Muni to pull streetcars, cable cars off line for 49ers game

Michael Cabanatuan

Updated 9:53 am, Sunday, January 19, 2014

Muni will stop service on its historic cable cars and streetcars lines at 2 pm Sunday to protect them from overzealous football fans vandals and other troublemakers who might get a bit too rowdy after the Niners win - or lose - in Seattle.
Photo: David Paul Morris, Special To The Chronicle

Muni will stop service on its historic cable cars and streetcars...

Muni will stop service on its historic cable cars and streetcars lines
at 2 pm Sunday to protect them from overzealous football fans vandals
and other troublemakers who might get a bit too rowdy after the Niners
win - or lose - in Seattle.
Photo: Susana Bates, Special To The Chronicle

Muni will stop service on its historic cable cars and streetcars...

A streetcar passes stopped traffic along the Embarcadero at Townsend. Muni will also suspend service on part of its N-Judah line as well.
Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle

A streetcar passes stopped traffic along the Embarcadero at...

Tourists will be out of luck on Sunday afternoon if they want to ride the historic cable cars. Muni will stop service at 2 pm Sunday to protect them from overzealous football fans vandals
and other troublemakers.
Photo: Justin Sullivan, Getty Images

Tourists will be out of luck on Sunday afternoon if they want to...

Muni will stop service on its historic cable cars and streetcars lines
at 2 pm Sunday to protect them from overzealous football fans vandals
and other troublemakers who might get a bit too rowdy after the Niners
win - or lose - in Seattle.
Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle

Muni will stop service on its historic cable cars and streetcars...

Muni will stop service on its historic cable cars and streetcars lines
at 2 pm Sunday to protect them from overzealous football fans vandals
and other troublemakers who might get a bit too rowdy after the Niners
win - or lose - in Seattle.
Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle

Muni will stop service on its historic cable cars and streetcars...

Muni will stop service on its historic cable cars and streetcars lines
at 2 pm Sunday to protect them from overzealous football fans vandals
and other troublemakers who might get a bit too rowdy after the Niners
win - or lose - in Seattle.
Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle

Don't plan on riding San Francisco's cable cars downtown or the historic F-Market streetcars Sunday afternoon during the 49ers' playoff game or into the night. And don't expect the city's electric trolley buses to show up at all on game day.

That's because Muni wants to protect its historic cable cars and streetcars from overzealous fans, vandals and other troublemakers who might get a bit too rowdy after the Niners win - or lose - in Seattle. It also wants to protect revelers from hurting themselves.

The transit system will use buses on the cable car and some rail lines - plus part of the N-Judah streetcar line - for at least the latter part of the game and through the night, said Paul Rose, a Municipal Transportation Agency spokesman.

Muni will stop service on the California cable car line at 2 p.m. with the Powell-Hyde and Powell-Mason cable cars running only between Fisherman's Wharf and Chinatown beginning at 4 p.m.

Buses will substitute for cable cars between Washington and Powell streets, and on the entirety of the California line. The historic streetcars that usually run on Market Street and the Embarcadero on the F-Market line will be replaced by buses Sunday. Beginning at 5 p.m., they will be rerouted to Mission Street from Market Street, stopping at all marked stops before returning to the transit lanes on the Embarcadero.

Diesel or hybrid buses will replace Muni's trolley buses, which use overhead electrical power, on several lines. Starting at 5 p.m., buses will carry N-Judah passengers between 22nd Avenue at Judah Street and Church and Duboce streets. Regular rail service will continue on the rest of the line.

Muni service to be affected by 49ers game

All three cable car lines, the F-Market historic streetcars, the N-Judah and all electric trolley bus lines will experience service changes Sunday during and after the 49ers' game against the Seattle Seahawks.